Faceware Technology Used in ABC’s New Sitcom Imaginary Mary

ABC’s live action/CGI hybrid stars Jenna Elfman as Alice, a fiercely independent career woman whose life is turned upside-down when she meets the love of her life–Ben, a divorced father with three kids, played by Stephen Schneider.

The real fun begins when Alice’s imaginary friend from her childhood returns as sassy and sharp-tongued Mary. Zoic Studios created the animated character voiced by Saturday Night Live alum’s Rachel Dratch, using Faceware’s Creation Suite Pro Complete System which includes the Faceware ProHD Headcam, Analyzer 3.0 Studio Plus, and Retargeter 5.0 Studio Plus software.

Using this complete System, Zoic was able to quickly shoot the facial motion capture completely marker-less and create the quality facial animation used for the live action ABC network show.

VP of Business Development at Faceware, Peter Busch, notes that unlike other motion capture solutions, “rather than limiting the quality of the data by tracking points on the face, our technology tracks textures and features to create highly detailed output. This enables our software to handle anything from stylized to photo-real characters. Markers inherently can also cause many technical issues during performance capture—plus, if you think what it takes to create convincing CG animation for the face—two key elements are the eyes and it’s the quality of lip sync—you can’t put markers on the eyes or on the inner lips. It’s great to be part of an ambitious project that harnesses these unique capabilities to create an interactive CG character for Prime Time TV.”

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About Faceware Tech

For over a decade, Faceware Tech has pioneered marker-less facial motion capture with our technology and expertise. Our software has been used on Oscar-winning visual effect films, award-winning AAA video games, commercials, music videos, and web series the world over.